On day two of Kabul Municipality’s campaign to remove T-walls from the streets of the city, acting mayor Abdullah Habibzai said the move will take time due to the large number of  cement barriers found across the capital. 

But on Saturday he insisted that they will clear the city of these T-walls.

“The number of problems is big. We are using up to 30 vehicles (at a time) but despite this the pace is slow and it takes time,” he said. 

On Friday, the municipality started removing the T-walls from along the Hamid Karzai International Airport road while on Saturday, they focused on Kart-e-Char area in Kabul’s PD3 district. Here the municipality removed T-walls from the streets around the house of Faizullah Kakar, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Qatar.

“The area which you see is a big area which was surrounded by walls for an Afghan ambassador. Fortunately a big part of the area was cleared (today) and this process continues,” Habibzai said.

Meanwhile, a number of MPs welcomed the campaign and said all the roads must be cleared of these barriers, without any exceptions.

“The concrete walls cannot ensure the safety of government officials or individuals who want to place them outside their residences,” said Abdul Qadir Qalatwal, an MP.

“We hope that they (the municipality) can achieve a lot from this movement. I hope they (municipality) remain impartial in this campaign,” said Gulalai Akbari, a member of Meshrano Jirga (Upper House of Parliament).

Acting police chief of Kabul, Salem Asaas, said they are serious about removing all these barriers that obstruct traffic. 

“As you know, the security team of Kabul is determined to use all their facilities and act under the observation of Mr. Mayor as well as consider the priorities of Kabul residents (during this campaign),” he said.